All that Honda Jazz is confusing
Honda NZ has an updated Jazz on sale. But it's not the all-new one just revealed in Japan. reports.
You might have heard that Honda unveiled an all-new Jazz (or Fit, as it’s called in Japan) at the Tokyo Motor Show this month.
Just to avoid any possible confusion, the 2020-model Jazz featured here isn’t it. International motor show reveals are one thing, launches in small markets at the bottom of the world are another. The all-new model is so fresh that even Honda New Zealand can’t tell us much about it.
So there’s a little bit of time left for the current shape yet. Enough for Honda NZ to introduce an updated version.
You’re going to have to buy the RS model to really get the benefit. The big change is a new audio head unit that now has Apple CarPlay, although it hasn’t been brave enough to ditch the CD/DVD player yet.
That’s standard even on the S, but the RS gets a ‘‘premium audio’’ system that brings a larger screen and Android Auto as well as the Apple phone projection.
More functionality is good, but it’s not a brilliant infotainment interface. The screen menus are a bit hard to fathom and old-fashionedlooking. Honda boasts of the head unit having physical volume buttons (always good), but they are in fact tiny rocker switches in the frame of the screen that are initially hard to see and quite hard to use. Better to stick to the steering wheel-mounted buttons or voice control.
The USB connection in our car was simply on the end of a wire dangling in the dashboard, which makes it all feel a bit aftermarket. Which it kind of is: the head unit is clearly branded Pioneer and it’s slotted into a space in the dashboard rather than integrated.
The RS models also get flashes of orange trim on the dashboard, gear lever, seats and doors.
Are you not excited about the orange? No, the exterior is unchanged.
But you can still have your RS in various states of visual snazziness. For another $1900 over the RS you can have the RS Sport, which adds a body kit. Or another $2400 gets you yet another sports kit with the RS Mugen, although it does tip your Jazz over into the $30k bracket.
The Jazz remains modesty powered, which is not a problem really for a small car. But it’s a shame the engine is so intrusive under load, something that’s not helped by the languid